Home But Not Safe
“Staying home and sheltering in place can be stressful for everyone,” NPR author Patti Neighmond writes (2020). Imagine how much more stressful it is for young people who have returned home to families who don’t accept them for who they are. That’s the situation of many LGBTQ+ youth and young adults living through COVID.
For young people, going away to college or venturing into adult life can be a time of exhilarating freedom and new possibilities. For many LGBTQ+ young people, it’s also the first time they are able to be their authentic selves. They form communities and “families of choice” that affirm and embrace who they are.
The pandemic and sheltering at home have disrupted that process. Many LGBTQ+ young adults have been forced to live at home with families that reject or refuse to acknowledge their identities. As example, some families continue to call their transgender family member by names that clearly don’t match the way they identify.
“The disparity between how good and supported these young people felt before and how lonely and rejected they might feel at the moment makes the situation even more painful,” states Neighmond, citing the observations of psychologists and social service providers to the LGBTQ+ community (2020).
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Read Neighmond’s article, published by NPR, to learn more about the challenges facing LGBTQ+ youth and young adults during the pandemic, as well as some of the opportunities and resources that are out there to help them get through a time that is stressful for us all.
"Home But Not Safe, Some LGBTQ Young People Face Rejection from Families in Lockdown"
References:
Neighmond, Patti. (2020, May 17). Home But Not Safe, Some LGBTQ Young People Face Rejection From Families in Lockdown. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/17/856090474/home-but-not-safe-some-lgbtq-young-pe...
